


The Crystal Sides

by Moon_In_The_Stars



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crystal Gems (Steven Universe), Betrayal, Cats, Crystal Gems, Denial of Feelings, Drama & Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gem Fusion, Gem War, Homeworld Gems - Freeform, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Lack of Communication, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Gem War, Pre-Gem War, Rebellion, Rejection, dad jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-10 01:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15280248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_In_The_Stars/pseuds/Moon_In_The_Stars
Summary: The Gem War left all gems on the planet corrupted. Except Rose Quartz and her closest friends, Patton the Apatite, Logan the Azurite, and Roman the Red Tourmaline. Several thousands of years later, Thomas Universe is brought into the world while Rose is taken from it. Now the remaining Crystal Gems need to move on while from grieving her death, while also protecting the Earth from Homeworld… and also while teaching Thomas how to walk and stuff like that.This is the re-write of another fic I started! Also the beginning chapters will be during the gem war so their back stories are explained since Thomas is going to be a toddler for a bit of the fic and I needed a way to explain their stories. We might bounce between the past and present but nothing too bad! Thanks for reading





	1. The Gem War Pt. 1

    Azurite wasn’t stupid. He knew that. He was the highly successful product of gem colonization from the kindergarten on Ceres 3 in sector 1, specifically and carefully designed for, the most flawless Diamond, Blue Diamond and her court. He was the most perfect Azurite in her entire court, he was put in charge in supervising the creation of several prime kindergartens, and sent on personal missions by Blue Diamond herself. So when he was called to his Diamond’s palanquin, he knew it had to be important. Or… he thought it was.

    “Pardon me, my Diamond?” The Azurite asked, looking up at the towering figure before him. Azurite was tall for a non-soldier gem, but Diamonds were giants in comparison. The Diamond showed no expression under her hood, only straightening up slightly to the question.

    “You heard me, Azurite. I need you to bring me the defective Apatite from the beta kindergarten on Earth immediately.” Azurite took a deep breath before speaking again.

    “Forgive me, my Diamond, but why do you need me of all gems? Surely an Agate or some other Quartz gem could suffice-”

    “Are you questioning me, Azurite?” The Diamond’s soft voice turned cold almost instantly, her own Pearl slightly shifted uncomfortably. Azurite quickly looked down at his feet to avoid any possible eye contact, not out of fear (Well… perhaps just a little) but out of respect.

    “Of course not, my Diamond. Will l be attending this trip alone?”

    “I will be assigning you a Tourmaline and a Violet Opal, they will meet you at the kindergarten at Earth. You are to leave at once.”

    “I will not fail you, my Diamond.”

    “I know you won’t, that will be all.” Blue finished with two loud, echoing claps.

    “My Diamond.” Azurite bowed before walking out of the palanquin. It was odd, to have a mission where all he had to do was find someone. An Apatite of all gems as well. They weren’t particularly tough gems, they practically weaker Azurites with hot headed attitudes. Then again, why were they so important? His Diamond mentioned that the Apatite was defective so perhaps they are causing a disturbance in the colonization process on Earth, no matter, the Earth was crawling with rebel gems at the moment so no doubt the Apatite was helping in some way.

    Whatever the case, Azurite was going to Earth. He was going to find the Apatite. He was going to complete his mission. He always does.

  


    “Tourmaline, Opal will see you now.” Tourmaline wasn’t normally as nervous as he was when meeting Opal. It was the same Opal who was the leader of several fleet and invasions, a soldier who was far more important than he was. Still, he was going to make a good first impression. Tourmaline ran his fingers through his hair _nervously_ one last time and walked through the spaceship doors. He was immediately star-struck by the gem before him, not at all looking like he had expected.

    He expected Opal to be tall, broad shouldered, muscular, and extremely intimidating. He got half right, while Opal was very tall and quiet intimidating with his dark purple and shadowed eyes, he was very lanky and had narrow shoulders. His skin was a desaturated purple with every other color on his body being dark, including his hood, which casted a menacing shadow over his face. He gave off a threatening vibe.

    And Tourmaline was all for it.

    “Greetings, Opal, I was sent by my manager to discuss-”

    “I know why you’re here, I’m not stupid.” Opal’s deep, raspy voice startled Tourmaline, not at all expecting Opal to have such a voice. “You’re Tourmaline, I’m just going to call you Tourma until I can find another name for you since Tourmaline is too damn long, and you were sent to accompany me in a mission to protect an Azurite on his mission to look for an Apatite. He’ll arrive in a few days, if he leave Homeworld on schedule, so we can head to the Beta Kindergarten tomorrow.”

    “Oh, well… What do we do until then?” The Opal shrugged, blowing at the few strands of purple hair that began to cover his eyes.

    “I dunno, I was going to explore the planet before the planet gets janked up by injectors and other stuff like that…” Opal turned on his heel and began towards the bridge before stopping abruptly and turning his head to face Tourma. “You wanna come along?” Tourma noticed a playful glimmer in his dark eyes.

    “Why, I’d love to accompany you, you dark knight.” Tourmalite bowed half-jokingly. Opal scoffed which slowly turned into a genuine chuckle.

    “You act like I’m royalty or something.”

    “Well, I for one would love to be a royal, even if I am just a soldier.”

    “...Princey… PRINCEY! That’s it!”

    “Pardon?”

    “I can call your Princey, it’s better than Tourmalite.” Before ‘Princey’ could respond, Opal sped down to the control bridge. Princey had no idea what he was getting himself into and he was very much enjoying it.

 

    The two gems stepped off the warp pad, the sunrise hitting their eyes instantly. While Princey’s eyes adjusted easily to the sudden bright light, Opal’s shadowed eyes needed a moment to adjust. Once finally adjusted, Opal noticed the peach colored sky, slowly turning to a paler pink as the sun rose. They were surrounded by fields of what looked to be bright red organic nutrients (‘fruit’ he believed he overheard a few humans call it). Each bush had pale pink flowers blooming from each stem. It was unlike any other planet or organic life Opal had seen before. He was so fixated on the world around him to notice his companion looking at him.

    If Princey had a heart, he was sure it would have skipped a beat. The tall, intimidating Opal who he was nervous about meeting was oddly… cute when facinted. He almost felt foolish for being so anxious in the first place. Princey noticed Opal’s light purple seem brighter and more saturated, it almost seem to be a shade of magenta as well from the pink sky.

    “So this is Earth…”

    “A lot more organic life than I imagined. No wonder Rose Quartz wants to defend this place, the organic life here is actually… pretty.”

    “Quiet like yourself-” Princey quickly shot his hands up to cover his mouth. Opal turned swiftly and looked at him intently. _Oh my stars! You idiot! Why would you say that?! You’ve made this whole thing awkward! Thisisityoumessedupgoodjob-_

“Do you usually flirt with your other superiors, or is it just me?” Opal mocked, tilting his head. Princey blushed furiously at the question, unsure whether to answer or not.

    “Uh, just you..?” The answer caught the Opal off guard but he quickly regained his composure and crossed his arms.

    “Nice to know I’m special. Hmm…” He reached out his hand slowly, his fingers barely brushing Princey’s cheeks. “You know… your skin turns a brighter shade of pink when you blush?” His arm slowly returned to his side and he continued down a path in the field. Princey quickly followed, still blushing from the past situation. Suddenly he realised… _he just outflirted me! I never thought I’d see the day! Well, this won’t do, I’ll show him…_

    “Say, Opal.” Said gem turned.

    “Hmm?”

    “Are you sure you’re not a diamond? Cause you just invaded my heart.” Princey concluded his comment with a wink, causing Opal to freeze. The Tourmaline was satisfied with himself before his companion unfroze and his twisted to one of mischief.

    “Must explain why it’s so hollow.”  This left the tables turned, with Princey frozen while Opal enjoyed his satisfying victory.

    “You are an evil little storm cloud, aren’t you?”

    “I try, wanna explore the rest of the fields or are we going to keep doing this all day?”

    “Ughh, fine… V.”

    “V?”

    “Yeah well, you’re I Violet Opal, right? V for Violet? You already have a name for me so I might as well.”

    “Nice, I like it. Well, c’mon, we ain’t got all day.” V hopped onto one of the floating pieces of rocks, “How are these rocks even floating? There’s even a trail of them leading to just one big one.”

    “Ooohh~ That looks like it would be quite an adventure!”

    “What are you babbling abou-” V was interrupted by Princey, who hopped onto the same platform, causing it to tilt. V lost his balance and nearly fell off if Princey hadn’t reached out and grabbed him in time.

    “Is it me, or did you just fall for me right now?” Princey winked at the shorter gem who blushed in return.

    “I hate you so much.” Princey pulled V back up and hopped onto the next rock.

    “Oh, you know you love me!”

    “You do realize that’s against the rules, right?” Princey froze.

    “I… know that. I was just… messing around?”

    “Well, don’t let anyone hear you, they’ll tell your manager or the Diamonds.”

    “You won’t?” V shrugged.

    “I don’t care about the Diamond authority, I just respect that they are much more powerful than me so I kinda have to follow them. I don’t stand by their beliefs, I only recognize they’re more important.”

    "Say… who is your diamond anyway?”

    “White Diamond. White sent me to watch over Pink since this is her first colony. I’m glad, honestly.”

    “How so?” Princey noticed a shift in V’s facial expression, turning into one of nervousness and fear.

    “She- White Diamond I mean- she’s… difficult. Pink is much more different, she’s kinder and more playful. While White is…” V’s hands began to shake and Princey saw his eyes shine with tears.

    “You don’t have to tell me!” Princey took V’s hand in his own and held them to his chest. “If it fears you to say, then don’t. Yet, no matter what, I will always be here for you, do you understand?”

    “Y-yeah…” V smiled up at Princey and felt his face turn several shades darker. He gently rested his head on the taller gem’s shoulder. “Thank you.” V almost _did_ felt sad when took his hands away from Princey.

 

    Azurite stepped off his ship and examined the Earth around him. _Full of organic life._ He didn’t look at it for too long as he instantly began to search for the soldiers assigned to protect him. _For whatever reason that may be._ Sure, he knew about the rogue Rose Quartz and her renegade Pearl, but what could two low-tier gems possibly do to an elite gem like himself? Then again, he was a few days behind schedule, a foolish oversight on his part. The soldiers were probably there for several days before he arrived. _Hopefully they haven’t wandered too far…_

They didn’t. They sat, casually conversing with each other on one of the boulders in the Kindergarten. He instantly recognised the Opal as the very same, fearsome captain from facet 9, the other was simply any other one of the dozens of Tourmalines that were produced in either of the Kindergartens.

    “Excuse me? I am the Azurite sent on the Earth mission to retrieve an Apatite with the assistance of two Soldiers. Do they happen to be you?”

    The Opal and Tourmaline exchanges looks that the Azurite couldn’t quiet make out.

    “Nope, sorry, bud. Wrong gems, in fact…” Both Gems stood and wielded weapons, the Opal wielding a spear while the Tourmaline drew his axe. The Azurite instantly felt fear take over, backing towards his ship until a spear was thrown at him, missing his head by a meter.

    “This territory is marked by the Crystal Gem, you Homeworld uppercrust. Prepare to be shattered!” While the Azurite curled in a ball of fear, bracing for impact of any kind, he realized that neither gem moved. They erupted into laughter and Azurite knew instantly what had happened.

    “He truly fell for it!” The Tourmaline said in between laughs.

    “High class gems think sooooo much of themselves until they’re in danger, huh?” The Opal’s voice low as he chuckled.

    Azurite quickly regained his stance, keeping his head high as though he wasn’t just tricked. “Are you the gems assigned to me or not?”

    “Yeah, yeah, we are, ya pebble.”

    “Excuse me?”

    “Well, let’s go on that mission now, shall we?” The red gem urged, sliding down the boulder alongside the Opal. The three gems walked deeper into the kindergarten, the Azurite farther in front as the two other gems followed him. Azurite sighed, hearing the gems behind him goofing around. He had worked with gems like this before, however these two were much more closer than expect. _Odd… How long have they known each other? They seem close…_

“Hey, Azurite?”

    “Yes, Opal?” The blue gem did not look behind him when responding.

    “Princey saw someone up on the rocks up there.” Azurite turned, completely confused.

    “I’m sorry but, _who?_ ”

    “Oh, I call him Princey and he calls me V. Like I was saying, Princey saw someone...” The Opal pointed at one of the higher cliffs in the abandoned kindergarten, “...up there.”

    “Hmm, alright, you two stay here. I will attempt to get her myself if, however, she turns violent, then I shall call for you.” Azurite hopped all the way up to the cliff and noticed a gem sitting on the other edge almost immediately.

    His hair was very messy for an Apatite, as though he had purposefully left it unkept. Logan noticed he decided to take the form of a male, so he/him pronouns all around. Apatite was humming… something. _Music? I believe that is what human referred to it as. Wait… is he… weeping over a flower?_

    “Hello, are you Apatite?” He knew the answer, yet he decided to act calm in case he made him upset. The light blue gem jumped at the sound of his voice and quickly hopped to his feet. _Well, he WAS sobbing over a plant, a Myosotis flower. It looks frail… no, almost dead._

    “Y-yeah, who are you?” The Apatite was holding the flower close to the gem on his chest.

    “I am Azurite, I’ve been sent-” He was interrupted by a high-pitched yelp.

    “Goodness, they’ve come for me, haven’t they? Please, leave me alone! I didn’t do anything wrong!” The Apatite slowly became hysterical, his sobbing becoming more and more distraught. Azurite had no idea what the gem was going on about, even feeling slightly sympathetic.

    “Calm down, I don’t know what you mean. I was just sent here to retrieve you for My Diamond.” Apatite didn’t seem to calm down, his breaths growing wild still.

    “Th-they tried to b-break me! B-because I came out w-wrong! Because I-I’m ‘overcooked’. S-so I escaped, I just wanted to see t-the Earth… When I did, I just found this!” The gem gestured around him. “You aren’t creating life from nothing, you know? You’re sucking the life from Earth and leaving what behind? Nothing! You c-can’t do this! What makes this life any less then our own?” He held out the dying flower in his hands. For once, Azurite didn’t know what to respond. He hadn’t thought of life other than his own. Seeing the plant made him feel… smaller.

    “I had no idea-”

    “Of course you don’t! You never stop to think about the life you take from the planets you colonize.”

    “Apatite… please, I didn’t know. Organic life is difficult for me to understand, if I knew, I wouldn’t have done this. But the Diamonds-”

    “Don’t care… why would they?” Apatite seemed to mumble the last part to himself. He sat back down, unfazed when Azurite sat next to him. “Guess you’re going to turn me in, right?”

    “Not yet.” The smaller gem turned to him, confused.

    “What-”

    “You deserve to see Earth’s beauty for what it is. The kindergartens do not show even a fraction of the planet’s true beauty. I also find being broken for something out of your control to be very foolish. Come along now.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Let’s go explore Earth.”

 

 


	2. Warning thing

Hey, just writing this to let you guys know that if you haven't seen _Heart of The Crystal Gems_ , _Legs From Here To Homeworld,_ or haven't caught up on SU in general, you're probably going to be very confused sooooooo. You should do that before continuing this fic. This is a spoiler warning for the entirety of Steven Universe. **Continue reading at your own risk**.


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